The Syrian Civil war is one of the social crises that have been seen in the current society. Having dragged on for close to five years, the war has had various effects on the Syrian people, including the death of over quarter a million people and the displacement of eleven million. This paper discusses the Syrian civil war and how individual citizens could work within the country to restore peace. It explores both an inter-personal level and the national level. Personal thoughts on the subject are also explored.
The Syrian Civil War Characteristics
This war began as a result of anti-government protests that were fueled by teenage students at a school. The teenagers painted anti-government slogans that would seek to discredit the government on school walls. The teenagers were detained and tortured, leading to an uprising in human rights protests. The government responded to these protests using force and fired at protestors. As a result, the protestors further took to the streets and ensured that they had protection by responding to government forces. Pro-government forces and anti-government forces often collided with each other, resulting in deaths and injuries. By March 2011, hundreds of thousands of people were taking to the streets daily to protest government rule in the country.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In 2012, the capital Damascus was engulfed in the protests which were now violent as protestors would normally approach the government forces already armed. By 2013, over 90,000 people had died as a result and the figure had risen to nearly three times in 2015. As of 2013, there were multiple parties in the conflict, including the third party jihadist group ISIS. After the descent into civil war, evidence of parties in the conflict engaging in war crimes was found by a UN commission of enquiry. These parties were involved in murder, rape, torture, enforced disappearances among others. Furthermore, methods such as reducing and/or blocking access to basic services such as food and water have been used as war tactics in the conflict. Despite the UN Security Council directive to eradicate the indiscriminate use of weapons in the war zone, citizens in the country continue to suffer and die every day, with government aircrafts dropping bombs on rebel zones. These attacks have a lot of collateral damage which is not useful to the situation (BBC World, 2016).
The Islamic State from has also been in the limelight for the animosities it conducts against those who would not accept their terms. This campaign of terror has been seen through live executions and amputations of citizens. Furthermore, the group has engaged in mass killings of citizens and rival groups who would want to reduce their influence. This has been seen through the killings of religious minorities, Westerners, and government representatives.
Additionally, the Syrian situation has been worsened by the use of nerve gas agents in the war to neutralize opposing parties. In 2013, the war was heightened as the war saw nerve gas agent canisters rocketed to Damascus. The blame game between the government and rebel forces was seen thereafter. Being threatened that the US would intervene, President Assad agreed to completely destroy the nerve gas and chemical weapons arsenal that was in the country. Despite the completion of the eradication in 2014, there is still documentation of the use of chemical weapons in fighting the war till date. The government has been accused of using chlorine-based weapons to destroy rebel bases, while the Islamic Front has equally made use of Sulphur based weapons to attack government strongholds.
Close to 4.5 million refugees have been borne out of the Syrian conflict, the most affected being women and children. Neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and European countries have been struggling with handling the exodus. European nations have already had conflicts on how to evenly distribute the refugee burden as some nations are already overwhelmed with the 10% of refugees that are being hosted by them. Over 6 million people are internally displaced within the Syrian borders. The UN requires expansive amounts of money to help over 13 million people within the Syrian borders that require some form of humanitarian help, with up to half of these people being children. 70% of the Syrian population lacks access to clean drinking water, 80% of the population lives in dire poverty, up to 2 million children are not in school while over 30% of the population cannot meet their basic needs for food. Moreover, warring factions have refused humanitarian help to be offered to civilians with significant populations living in inaccessible regions and besieged locations without access to aid.
Significant changes have been experienced in the course of the war’s development. Jihadists and Islamists now form the larger part of the state compared to secular moderates. The Islamic State has benefited from the chaos and enjoyed large territories in Iraq and Syria from where it operates. These parties are now engaged in wars among themselves so that they are fighting rival groups and government forces from the Syrian government. American and Russian efforts to destroy the Islamic state have borne no fruits as reports show that there is some subjectivity in their operations. Opposition groups within the country fight for supremacy and control of the Syrian state. The most popular front is the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. Nonetheless, this front is not popular among opposition parties, thereby defeating the purpose of the entire formation.
Intervention Methods
The Syrian conflict is quite complicate, having been allowed to escalate over a long period. However, various countries have overcome longer conflicts though the collaborative approaches that have been used. A good example is the conflict situation that was in Somalia. Of necessity, parties must consider each other’s reasons for engagement in the conflict. Here, it seems that political and religious differences were the cause for the conflict (Atran, Axelrod, & Davis, 2007). Initial dissatisfaction with President Assad’s rule brought about the conflict. As a result, it is necessary that the government initiate conflict resolution mechanisms to engage the rebel forces in growth and development strategies. It may be necessary to include the rebel forces in a power-sharing approach. From a personal approach, it may be necessary that individual efforts towards the assurance of peace be pursued. Here, individuals will begin rooting for peace through meaningful ways that will avoid any escalations in conflict (Diehl, Druckman, & Wall, 1998).
In conclusion, it is necessary that the Syrian peacekeeping situation begin from within. The people of Syria need to reject violence as a mean of conflict resolution with the government if the civil war will successfully end. Otherwise, the cycle of violence will be continuous.
References
Atran, S., Axelrod, R., & Davis, R. (2007). Sacred barriers to conflict resolution. SCIENCE-NEW YORK THEN WASHINGTON-, 317(5841) , 1039.
BBC World. (2016). Syria: The story of the conflict . Retrieved from BBC World: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868 .
Diehl, P. F., Druckman, D., & Wall, J. (1998). International Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution A Taxonomic Analysis with Implications. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 42(1) , 33-55.
